Search on the web is more than just knowing the right words to search. It’s knowing how to use the engine behind the text box. Here are a few quick tips for getting better results, many of which are not possible with Google.

Searching for Python datetime functions produces a familiar list of sites with relevance but at the very top, a StackEchange result is actually loaded as a preview because DDG already knows that StackExchange is an authoritative site and the the first result might be the most relevant. Equally impressive, searching for an Cocoa Touch function provides a zero-click result with the method definition.

The list of zero-click sites is pretty broad. There are song lyrics, map results and Yelp to name a few. Try the Punchfork recipe search for a quick way to find food recipes. These are invaluable research tools.

Bangs

DDG also provides what seems like a site specific search on the surface but is actually a more convenient search than Google would ever offer. Bang prefixes tell DDG to offload the search to a specific site. Rather than producing crawled pages, the results are loaded into the site’s own search engine. For example, searching “!python os.path.lexists” loads the Python documentation search results. Searching “!stackexchange python os.path.lexists” loads the results for stack exchange. No intermediate landing page with ads. No social network turds floating to the top. Just the search results on the site I wanted. A ridiculous number of site searches are available that makes DDG a great landing page. It’s as if Quix became a search engine.

Goodies

Wolfram Alpha

Most people know Wolfram Alpha can be used to get a company profile that includes stock performance. But it’s much more than that. Wolfram is a factual search engine. Or as their tag-line says, it’s a computational engine. While it can solve complex math problems, it can be equally useful for playing Hangman. Wolfram can also chart flat data or provide a curve fit.